Are you a friendly blogger?
By that I mean, is your blog laid out in a format which is reader-friendly? In some previous posts I spoke about having an easy navigation, responding to comments and not having extraneous crap all over the place.
I suppose it really depends upon how YOU perceive your blog. If it's for a release of words then it's likely that your blog is pretty much user friendly. If you perceive your blog is for making money, it's likely that it's hard for your readers to use…and if it's somewhere in between those two extremes, well, it's 50/50…
So, what makes a blog (or blogger) user friendly?
In my opinion, there are 4 main areas that need attention in order that we all become more friendly…
- Understanding your readers are not all in your peer group(s)
- Respond to comments as much as possible
- Being civil to your readers and not swearing too much
- Having good navigation & layout on your blog
I think that most of those are fairly obvious, and yet, lots and lots of bloggers fail miserably on one or more of those points on a regular basis.
Peer Groups
There are some bloggers out there who write as if everyone else is on the same level as them. If you earn $10k a month, it's obvious that 99% of your readers do not! If you are American, write with the basis that 99% of the worlds populatin is not. Same goes if you are english, welsh, aussie, german or whatever. Keeping a conversation open by including all, is a good way to ensure your blog remains well-read.
Responding to Comments made
There is nothing worse than making comments on a blog, only for the blogger not to bother answering the points you have made. It's a sure way to turn readers off, I reckon. On this blog, I try to respond to most comments, unless I know it's going to cause further arguments.
Being Civil & Not Swearing
Well, I reckon that this one goes without saying. If you tell someone to f— off or that they are a tosser, they are unlikely to ever return. And your comments will be picked up by search engines and all the rest of it. Surely a good way to be unfriendly.
Swearing is a matter of taste. I'm not overly bothered by any swear words, but can see that some more delicate people might be. It's probably a wise idea to not swear too much on written posts…
Good Navigation & Layout
Almost all of the blogs that I read are absolutely dire when it comes to navigation. It would seem that it's becoming more normal to use some sort of monetisation rather than a good menu system. One of the most user-friendly navigation aids is the "recent comments" plugin of which there are many…and yet, hardly any bloggers use this - I wonder why that is?
The layout of your blog is also quite important for user-friendliness. In my opinion, this is probably the one area that we ALL need to look at. For me, I like to see a header, some content in the left, and the menu on the right, all above the fold if possible. I don't like to see too many blatant adverts in my face when I view a blog. Do you?
Some examples, good, bad or otherwise
In the following examples, I've muted back the area where there is NO content and NO navigation, ABOVE the fold. After all, aren't blogs all about "the spoken word" and "how to get to read it". These are some blogs in my live bookmarks, I hope the owners don't mind me using 
I reckon that those blogs with less muted out, are more "user-friendly" in terms of layout at least. I haven't gone much further than that, by analysing the blog owners posting style or civil-ness or how much they respond. But I might do that as a follow-up sometime in the future…
I wonder how YOUR blog stacks up against these? If your blog is one of those pictured, you are in my regular reading list, weehay! Do any of you guys think I am out of line by posting about user-friendliness? Does being friendly even matter? Should user-friendliness be at the top of our priorities as bloggers?
An interesting experiment?
Maybe, maybe not. If your blog is not pictured above, why not take a screenshot and blank out everything that is not post content and not navigation. You might be surprised at how others see your blog…and remember, first impressions count…
Comment by Stu — July 22, 2007 @ 12:29 pm
Thanks for the mention Gary - surely it's worth a live link if you've gone to the trouble though?
Whilst your evaluation of my blog is close to being correct, I'd like to add a few points (mine is the first blog on the list, for those who don't know):
The far right sidebar has absolutely no monetisation in it, it's filled with subscription options, a search box, who's online, recent comments, archives, and links to my "pages" such as the "about" page.
The part under the post which you have blanked out is a link to sybscribe to the RSS feed, not an adsense ad as it looks by the way you'e blanked it out.
All in all, I have a single text link ad, my "drinking buddies", and a 160×600 AdSense ad in the left sidebar on the home page, that's it.
Hardly over-monetised I would think.
Now, how 'bout that live link?
Comment by Gary — July 22, 2007 @ 2:26 pm
Stu, I particularly didn't want to link in case the blog owners got snotty - but as you now commented, you have a link anyways
My point in this post was to show the 1st impression of a blog - although thge 1st para talks about monetisation, the end of the post talks about only showing Nav and Text above the fold…I didnt make that distinction quite clear enough
You know, I never noticed that banner was for your own RSS feed. A definite case of banner-blindness I reckon…which makes me think that perhaps the banner is in the wrong format (or perhaps the wrong place?) ? Somehting for you to ponder on, I guess.
Comment by SarahG — July 22, 2007 @ 7:08 pm
You've got too small a screen
I totally agree on ensuring you reply to comments. I've commented on blogs in the past and when they go unreplied to I feel it impolite if nothing else. Plus I think it shows that you as a blogger do not appreciate your readers.
As for my design, not being a designer I'm pretty hopeless with stuff like that. I've shifted a couple of things after reading this whilst I had to fix the stylesheet (that I overwrote tumdidum) and I may shift a few more to get the recent comments above your fold, dump the useless bit about me I guess
I think a nice design is good for the site. However as I read most posts and comments in a feedreader I only see the blog I'm reading when I go to comment. So I guess the layout of the content etc. is not so much of an issue to me personally, but of course first time visitors will be seeing the design and they're usually the people you want to get to come back.
Interesting post however
Comment by SarahG — July 22, 2007 @ 10:08 pm
Right job done
I guess from my point of view I don't think about what's on the site as I know what's what and where, however visitors are coming to look at my site and its content, not links out to other sites, so they've moved down a little to make way for my own site content. Thanks for making me think about things.
Comment by Stu — July 23, 2007 @ 5:08 am
You've certainly given me some food for thought Gary, don't be surprised to see some tinkering over the next couple of days!
Comment by Gary — July 23, 2007 @ 9:16 am
Stu, Sarah; post seems to have kickstarted some conversation and some changes - but that wasn't really my intent - after all one's blog is one's own to do with as pleases…
All; I've been thinking about this blog. And others. Do we need to have header areas that are nothing but an image or a blog title? Take for example the osworld blog - I have 5 centimeters of space which is just "Oli, Dave and Burt" - pointless I reckon?
Comment by Stu — July 23, 2007 @ 11:02 am
"Do we need to have header areas that are nothing but an image or a blog title?"
I've often wondered about this. Just a giant waste of space which could be used for more ads I reckon!
Comment by Stu — July 23, 2007 @ 11:28 am
Stu, Sarah; post seems to have kickstarted some conversation and some changes - but that wasn't really my intent - after all one's blog is one's own to do with as pleases…
You're a powerful, powerful man Gary….
Comment by SarahG — July 23, 2007 @ 2:01 pm
I was already fixing some things and to be honest it gave food for thought, I wouldn't worry about it
As for the top banner. I've had a blog design that didn't really have a header, was pure text with very little design. It was a bit of text overload to me. I think a nice design is still a good idea. Sure you could reduce the height of your top banner a little, cut the bottom off, but I wouldn't dump it altogether.
As for my own site, I like my new changes
Comment by paulforcey — July 25, 2007 @ 5:53 pm
ooh I feel special now, I recognize that last blog..lol
I never intended to share as much as I have in my blog, but now I am beginning to really enjoy sharing it all.
Comment by Gary — July 28, 2007 @ 12:10 pm
I don't know if it was this post that helped, but the blog of nate whitehill is now more friendly. Nate has added "popular articles" and "recent articles" above the fold. Nice one.
Comment by Gary — July 28, 2007 @ 12:15 pm
Paul your layout is not so bad. You'd do well to respond to comments on the blog though